PRARTHANA—- Prernamurti Bharti Shriji

In Sanskrit and most of the native Indian languages, the word prarthana means prayer or seeking. While the word has a deep religious connotation and peculiarly Hindu in its origin, in course of time it acquired a secular and generic sense and used to convey the meaning of “to request, or ask or seek something politely with a feeling of reverence or submissiveness.” In the Vedic parlance, prayer was more or less synonymous with mantra, a religious chant or incantation, used to communicate with gods and seek some kind of wealth or favor from them. The Vedic Indians performed elaborate rituals, chanting mantras or prayers to please the gods and seek their assistance in the fulfillment of individual desires or realize some potentially important goal either forthemselves or for others or for the community in general. For example, one of the most frequently found prayers in the Vedas wishes for…